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IJ is a nonprofit, public interest law firm. Our mission is to end widespread abuses of government power and secure the constitutional rights that allow all Americans to pursue their dreams.
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Baby Ninth Amendments
How Americans Embraced Unenumerated Rights and Why It Matters
Listing every right that a constitution should protect is hard. That’s why the Founders created the Ninth Amendment, protecting rights that aren’t specifically listed, or enumerated, in the U.S. Constitution. Likewise, most state constitutions contain virtually identical protections called Baby Ninth Amendments.
In Baby Ninth Amendments: How Americans Embraced Unenumerated Rights and Why It Matters, the IJ Center for Judicial Engagement’s own Anthony Sanders tells the story of how state constitutions came to safeguard unenumerated rights and how judges have fallen down on their job of protecting those rights, which include everything from the right to earn an honest living to the right to feed the homeless to the right to keep a garden on one’s private property. Sanders also demonstrates how judges can use Baby Ninth Amendments to rejuvenate unenumerated rights.

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Project on Immunity and Accountability
Qualified immunity and other legal doctrines let government workers violate constitutional rights with impunity. IJ works to eliminate these barriers to accountability.

IJ’s Project on the 4th Amendment
Every American is now at risk of government searches, seizures, and surveillance. IJ defends vital rights to privacy and security.

Civil Forfeiture
Unlike criminal forfeiture, which takes property from convicted criminals, civil forfeiture does not require property owners to be convicted of a crime—or even charged with one—to permanently lose their cash, cars, businesses or even their homes.

Homemade Food
All individuals have the right to produce, advertise, sell, procure, and consume the foods of their choice. IJ ensures they can use these rights to provide for themselves, their families, and their communities.